Leprosii in China. 435 



The information furnished us by Dr. Hobson with reference 

 to the terrible forms of lej^rosy in China are of so much in- 

 terest, general as well as special, that we believe we shall not 

 transcend the scope of this work, if we give in these pages 

 the valuable data upon the subject in all their completeness. 



The Chinese consider leprosy as the most appalling of 

 diseases, since, while resisting all means of cure itself, it at- 

 tacks others, and they accordingly avoid in the greatest 

 terror all those who are smitten with it. Like the people 

 whom Moses brought out, the Chinese regard leprosy as a 

 direct consequence of impiety, an expiation for sin com- 

 mitted. For this reason those afflicted with leprosy are 

 rarely regarded with pity. No hand of sympathy is stretched 

 forth to give aid, no heart feels itself impelled to alleviate 

 their hopeless condition, and thus the most wretched of all 

 are in the eyes of the masses simply objects of disgust and 

 of horror. Leprosy is called Lae in Chinese. In the Im- 

 perial dictionary of Kang-he Lae, is described as a very evil 

 kind of disease, which breaks out upon the skin in the form 

 of blotches and pustules. Gutzlaif and others acquainted 

 with Chinese make use however of the words Ma-fung to ex- 

 press leprosy, which is also used by native writers to indi- 

 cate the disease. 



The Chinese physicians consider leprosy as a subtle, pene- 

 trating, poisonous effluvium which has infected the blood. 

 They profess to recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, 

 among which they enumerate every form and variety of 



